IMAGE-LINE FL STUDIO 8

Apr 22, 2008 3:29 PM, By Jim Aikin

           
 

THIS PROGRAM DOES IT ALL

Slicex

FIG. 2: The powerful Slicex plug-in loads WAV and REX files, slices the WAV files automatically, and gives you a bank of eight Articulators (upper right) for adding filters and envelopes to individual slices. The gray square at the top is a mousable X/Y control pad

If you use drum loops, you’re going to love Slicex (see Fig. 2), which is brand new in FL 8. It has everything you’ve ever dreamed of, and some things you probably haven’t. It has a “dual deck” implementation, for instance, with which you can crossfade from one beat to another.

You can drag and drop either pre-sliced REX files or raw WAV files into Slicex. WAV files are automatically sliced up, and trigger notes are automatically loaded into a piano-roll track in the current pattern. The slice detecting algorithm does a great job of spotting the drum hits in a loop, but if it misses one, you can edit the slice points by dragging them around on the waveform. If you give the slices names, the names show up in the piano-roll for the Slicex track.

Each slice in the loop can be sent through any of Slicex’s eight Articulators. Each Articulator serves up a multimode filter, an LFO, envelopes, and automatable X/Y modulation control from the Slicex mouse pad.

Once you’ve finished massaging the loop in Slicex, you can send each slice to its own mixer channel to apply effects. Another option is to drag an individual slice to the Pattern window, where you can use FL’s original pushbutton pattern interface to construct an entirely new beat.

SynthMaker

If you’ve ever dreamed of creating your own visionary synthesizer, SynthMaker will be a dream come true. This bundled version of the award-winning OutSim software has all the programming features of the original, lacking only the ability to export your newly created instruments as free-standing VST plug-ins.

SynthMaker comes with a variety of instruments and effects already created, from the ethereal Morph Machine to the aggressive UniRetro. Many of them stack oscillators to produce especially fat sounds. The instrument library will surely expand as FL users start uploading their contributions. The FL Studio Download Manager gives you instant access to the library.

If a downloaded SynthMaker instrument is inspiring but not satisfying, you can pop open the SynthMaker programming panel and add oscillators, change the filter type, or whatever else you might imagine. Programming SynthMaker is an intellectual exercise, and you’ll have to read the manual, but you don’t need to get that deep in order to use the instruments that others have already assembled.

The Last Word

Thinking of FL Studio as strictly for electronic dance music would be a huge mistake. It’s both a recording platform and a creative tool, and it’s ideal for anything from new age and ballads to speed metal and grunge, from hip-hop to contemporary jazz. So what are you waiting for? Why not test out Image-Lines' claim that FL Studio really is the fastest way from your brain to your speakers?